The Lesson
by duaedenateist
Summary: Sequel to Like Stars. Oliver and Felicity's life after they are separated for college, until the day they die.


Guys, I don't know. I have 10 classes a day and after I upload I'm going back to stay up all night because I spent my weekend writing this so I won't be sleeping tonight. I don't know if I'm happy with it, I don't know anything right now. Someone asked for me to to do "waiting till getting married" so I wrote it but you know me. Nothing is without a twist of my own and just, read it. I have no other choice but to post it because I can't think of writing it any other way.

* * *

"How many days we have?"

"If we really postpone it, about 4."

"Damn it. Can we ignore this year? Maybe take the exam again next year or the next?" Felicity said, lying on his stomach, he was playing with the hem of her shirt absent-mindedly.

"I want to. But we can't do it, sooner or later we're going to have to go through this so let's just get it over with."

"Yeah, let's just dive into 4 years of misery."

"It won't be that bad."

"It will be worse Oliver, now you can't just drive in the weekends, it takes more than 5 hours. Oh god, this is a mistake." Felicity closed her hands on her face, he sat up and took them in his hands, kissing her knuckles.

"It's not a mistake, we're not a mistake Felicity."

She sighed, "I know. But I'm gonna miss you so much Oliver and I will be alone. Tommy is coming with you to Wharton and me, lil' ol' me," She fake sniffled, "I'm all alone in my dorm."

"You can get a roommate, Felicity. We told you before."

"I don't want a roommate, I don't need anyone to see me reaching for you in the middle of the night and cry like a teenager because you're not there."

Oliver pulled her to himself and Felicity held onto his nape, not exactly sitting but not lying either she gripped his neck and let him kiss her. His lips still caused a havoc on her body. She couldn't pull herself together for a while after it. It wasn't that she was dazed off from his moves or anything, it was just the feel of it. She sometimes clearly saw his lips on hers while he kissed her even though her eyes were closed. He had that effect on her, but in fairness he always had.

They heard foot steps and parted instantly, Oliver looked up and saw a woman standing with a shot gun in her hands, "Hey, point that gun to somewhere else." He snapped quickly, hand going to rest on Felicity's body protectively.

Felicity looked up in the blazing hot and she came face to face with the woman, she had wrinkles on her face, she looked beaten and she was familiar. Too familiar.

"Felicity?" The woman asked as Felicity stood up. Oliver was on his feet in a second and he was pushing Felicity behind him.

"How do you know her?" He growled.

Felicity caressed his bicep, telling him to calm down, to take a step back. "Oliver, that's my mother."

Oliver didn't tear his gaze away his eyes away from her, "Good but that gun is still pointing at us."

Felicity moved to his side, reaching to the gun, she felt Oliver tense. "Mom, lower the gun."

"What are you doing in my field?"

"This is not your field, Mom." She answered quickly.

Oliver kept quiet, Felicity rarely talked about her mother, the last thing she said about her was 'Thank god, she's not here.' at Aunt Lena's funeral. It was very sudden but Felicity didn't grief for long, Aunt Lena was kind enough to leave an 'emergency letter' which stated that the cafe and everything she owned was now Felicity's, she was free to sell them if she desired and she was going to be pissed if Felicity grieved for more than a week. She grieved for over a month, she kept up with her life, she wasn't depressed at all but sometimes she would think of her and she would cry, or laugh. It wasn't exactly settled.

"Of course it is. Just like the house."

Felicity laughed at that, "The house is mine Mom. Remember how Dad gave it to Aunt Lena before he left, well Aunt Lena left everything to me." She was Aunt Lena's only child, not officially maybe, but she was.

"What you're gonna kick me out?"

"No, I couldn't care less about it. But remember to not set this house to fire will you? We kind of like these barley plants."

Felicity held his hand and dragged him to the Queen's summer house. He asked on the way, "What's with the hostility?"

She sighed and hugged him, "You know how I told you my mom doesn't care about me and never has?" She said her voice muffled by his arms wrapped around her.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I lied." Oliver pulled her to look into her eyes.

"You lied?"

"It was a white lie," She whined, seeing the serious look on his face she sighed again, "Fine I'll tell you."

Oliver kept her shoulders under his arm as they walked to the house again, Felicity swallowed a few times and Oliver knew that it wasn't a pleasant story.

She mumbled a few things under her breath, twitching her lips and looking at the sky.

"Felicity!"

"Ugh, long story short she hates me." Felicity blurted out.

Oliver threw her a face, who hated their daughter? Who even dared to hate Felicity?

"Mom's an alcoholic and an addict. It started after my birth, she had a birth trauma and I don't think she ever got over it. So one day she was on, i don't know something, and she decided to cook."

"Cook?"

"Yeah, you know, some chili on the stove and.. meth."

He burst out laughing, stopping halfway on the road, after a few minutes he turned to Felicity's unamused face, "That's not a joke?"

"Yeah, no. She blew up the house, we were living in the suburbs by the way, so Dad left, he went to Vegas." Oliver raised his brows, Felicity rolled her eyes, "Hometown."

"So you're not from Central City?"

"I am, sorta. I don't know. Dad said I was born in Vegas, Mom insisted that I was born in Central City and my birth certificate says Mom's right but Dad was the sober one and he said they couldn't get the birth certificate in Vegas because Mom was kind of.. known in there.. But you can't exactly count on Dad too, he's a, uh, hustler." She trailed off again.

"Why am I learning this after 12 years again?"

"I don't know. It never came up."

He shook his head, "Why didn't your mom get help or something? Why didn't your dad checked her into rehab?"

"Yeah, there's no explanation for that. Dad wasn't around much and Mom was. That's why Aunt Lena took me under her wings, she was abused as a child, I mean I wasn't abused but Mom wasn't very pleasant. We had a fight in the coffee shop, she hit me, Aunt Lena hit Mom and things escalated quickly after that."

Oliver was watching her, jaw touching the floor, eyes big as Gollum, "Why am I learning this now?" He insisted.

"It's not something I enjoy recalling."

That's when he got it, Felicity was never the one to whine and cry about how traumatic her past was. She would joke about it, she wouldn't let anything bring her down. But it didn't mean it wasn't hard on her. That was how the woman he loved was, and it always made him smile with pride.

o0o

"I'm not gonna cry." Felicity sniffled.

"You already are." He said, smiling.

"I look like I'm from Mordor when I cry," She said, looking down at her feet.

Oliver raised her head with his thumb under her chin, hand stretched out to her nape, "You always look like you're from Rivendell."

She giggled, "Our last conversation shouldn't be about Lord of The Rings."

"You're right, we are totally ignoring Star Wars right now," He said, making her chuckle again.

He lowered his head and captured her plump lips between his, Tommy interfered, "I suggest you use tongue," They parted, both mortified and glaring at Tommy.

"What? I'm looking out for you. Who knows when you'll see each other again?"

"Shut up, Tommy!" Felicity and Oliver said in sync. Thea and Tommy burst out laughing.

Oliver pulled her to himself and his hands lowered on her body. She giggled, "No.." She trailed off but he already had her lifted up, Thea and Tommy were shaking their heads and Felicity was giggling as he turned around.

Oliver slowly stopped and Felicity lowered her head, pressing her lips to his and opening her mouth. Her ankles locked at her waist and she braced him tighter, his hands roamed her back. He dragged his lips to her chin, peppering kisses and making its way back to her lips, catching her lower lip and giving it a thug with his teeth. She blushed down to her neck and he let her slide down from his body.

He pulled her to himself again, this time hugging her, wrapping his arms around her torso, her arms locked around his neck, she stood on her tiptoes to rest her head on his shoulders.

They were on the news in the evening, romantic couple saying good bye at the airport. Oliver called her as soon as he saw, she opened the phone but she was speechless for a good few minutes while Oliver was laughing in her ear.

Felicity offered to get rid of the footage but Oliver disagreed, he had finally declared the world that Felicity was his, he wouldn't give up on that.

o0o

Oliver answered the phone immediately, "Hey!"

He heard Felicity's familiar cries, "Felicity? Why are you crying? Felicity!"

She answered in between sobs, dragging the words, "Dirty dancing.." She got into another fit and Oliver chuckled.

"I think we decided you weren't going to watch the movie in the first week, Felicity."

They had separated for the fall term and it was hard on both of them. They talked every night before bed, MIT was fun, enjoyable, exciting. Wharton was boring, soul sucking and absolutely not for Oliver but he went with it, because Felicity requested. But he had Tommy, even though now Oliver was monogamous, they still had fun.

Felicity had threatened him, if anything at all, besides rumors of course, happened she would murder him and no one would be able to prove anything. It was particularly disturbing since Thea, Moira and Tommy were completely agreeing and nodding along while Robert was drinking scotch in the back ground and eyeing Felicity proudly.

It was nice to know his family approved Felicity, but a bit bugging since they would be on her side in the court in the case of a possible divorce.

"What part is it?"

"Just the beginning.." She sniffled.

"Oh boy." Oliver looked at his watch, it was a friday afternoon, 5 pm to be exact. He was just back from his class and his brain was about to explode.

"Get my favorite snack, maybe it'll help."

"I already have it," She cried again, Oliver cursed under his breath.

He went up and nudged Tommy, he was taking his friday nap before the crazy night, Tommy looked up and Oliver tried to explain it with his hands. Tommy's eyes expanded at his plan and he shook his head in amusement before nodding and grabbing his phone, setting things up.

"Okay, uhm, oh shit something came up. I have to go but I'll talk to you in an hour?"

"Okay," She answered in a little voice, he could imagine her lower lip sagging. He chuckled and ended the call.

Tommy was on the phone, talking, actually arguing and shouting. He shut the phone half a minute later and turned to him, "It's ready." He said with a sly grin on his face.

Oliver changed into black canvas pants and a V neck sweater, and he grabbed his jacket, it was damn cold in Massachusetts.

Almost two hours later, he was walking upstairs to her dorm. A few people had whispered when they saw him, of course they were famous, they were the couple at the airport.

He tried the door and shook his head in disapproval when he found it unlocked.

Felicity looked at the door and screamed. Oliver shut the door with his feet, she threw the comforter to the side, kicking it off of her legs, she was trying to get out of the bed but it was more of a Felicity vs. The Bed moment so he crossed the room and lifter her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and closed her lips on his. Oliver lowered her in bed and flipped them.

She put her hair in a pony tail, "What the hell are you doing here?" She reached for the remote and paused the movie.

"You were crying."

Felicity looked at him for a moment, "You did not use the Queen jet to come here, did you?"

Oliver grinned, shooting her the puppy eyes. She rolled her eyes, "You plan on doing that for four years?"

"Yep," He answered easily.

"You're ridiculous."

He pulled her in for another kiss, hands cupping her bottom and grinding it to his belt. She moved onto kissing his jaw and taking his shirt off. He pulled her up again, using his hands as a lever but she flinched as he applied pressure and he pulled away instantly.

"Calm down, it's just PMS and everything hurts.." She trailed off.

He chuckled knowing the process thoroughly, "Well that explains Dirty Dancing."

Oliver was never disgusted by PMS or anything feminine. As expected, Felicity had her first period when she was with Oliver. She was just getting used to the Queen mansion and they were studying with Oliver in his room. She was explaining him the perfect squares and roots when she abruptly stopped and looked down.

"What happened?" He had asked and Felicity whined in sudden grumpiness.

"I think I just got my first period. Oh, damn it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, oh, this is gonna be a pain in my ass." She had stated her thought on the subject and years later, she still was behind them. Moira had told her that she was a late bloomer and handed her a tampon. Felicity was red as a tomato but Moira had handled it perfectly, thankfully Felicity had someone close to a mother for the basics. But she had to figure out the rest by herself and they weren't very easy for a person who had her foot in her mouth.

Oliver wrapped his arms around her lower back, "It's cold and you're having your period. We gotta get you under the covers."

He pulled her to his side and tucked them inside the comforter, hitting the play on the remote. He took off his shoes and kicked them to the floor, tangling their feet over her fuzzy socks to keep her warm.

"When are you leaving?"

"Sunday," he said wiggling his brows suggestively.

"Didn't you insist on waiting until we got married?" Felicity had done everything in her power but always ended up having mind blowing orgasms to the point of losing her ability to talk or move. Oliver never pushed for a blow or a hand job either, actually when she went for it he just knocked her on her back again. Felicity felt annoyed until she just let go and enjoyed her orgasms.

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean we can't have fun."

"We as in me, because you never let me do anything."

"You don't have to."

"If I had to I would kill you Oliver, don't talk like it's some sort of a task you freed me from. I want to, I never even saw it, I always end up with you in between my legs."

"Which is an awesome thing."

"I'm pretty sure being in between your legs is a great thing too, which by the way I never got to experience."

She huffed and looked away, Oliver pulled her to himself again, "It's usually not very enjoyable."

"Then how do you enjoy it?"

"It's different."

"What's different?"

Oliver kept quiet for a while and Felicity turned to him with an accusing look in her eyes, "You think I'm gonna get scared because I'm a virgin."

"No."

"Then you don't want me."

"Felicity-"

"Or you have problems with me experiencing things. If you tell me you want to marry an _innocent _girl when all you did for years was having daily flavors Laurel never knew about, natural selection is coming for you." She snapped, putting quotation marks around innocent.

"Felicity! Don't be ridiculous. It has nothing to do with those things, what am I, a cavemen?"

"Then you're afraid I'm gonna fail and you won't be able to say something and it's not like you can fake orgasms like me."

"You faked orgasms?" He barked.

"Yeah, like I knew how to fake it! What is wrong with you? Why don't you wanna have sex with me?"

"Because you're a virgin and I want it-"

"Laurel was a virgin. Our entire high school was virgin until you got into puberty Oliver. And don't you dare use the 'I wasn't in love with them' card because you were in love with Laurel. Also she wasn't your first either so that means there's something so wrong with me that I can't even be near your precious dick."

She got out of the bed, standing slightly bent down and holding her stomach.

"What's so wrong with waiting? It's not like I'm leaving you frustrated." He walked over to her, facing her with the expression she uses.

"No, you're leaving you frustrated and when I try to do anything you push me away and cover the situation with blowing my mind off."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Not somewhere you'll like. Either you like your hand better than me or you're cheating on me. I can't even decide which one is more insulting. But I think the first one is ahead though."

Oliver stared at her with an open mouth, "It's nice to see you're keen on sucking my dick."

Felicity got straight with the rage and slapped him. "Take your holy balls on the way out."

She left the dorm and slammed the door shut after her. Oliver rushed after her and caught up with her before she got to the stairs. He picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder he went back to her room and shut the door with his leg, putting her down to her former place.

"Did your cavemen got out for a walk down town?"

He ignored her jab and asked calmly, "Why don't you want to wait? Why is the idea of this being special is so stupid to you?"

"I have no problems with waiting. I'm just trying to understand why you don't want me."

"Felicity, I do want you."

"Apparently, your dick doesn't." She huffed and turned her back to him, her hands on her temples. He shook his head, she was literally ignoring everything that happened. He was the one to kiss her first, he was the one to nag her constantly about her relationship with the Douche. She hadn't shown one symptom of jealousy over the years, she never tried to claim him in school and now she thought he didn't want her.

He marched over to her and turned her to face him. He closed his lips on her and pulled her bottom flush against his, pressing it on his own and bending her with the push of his kiss. He dug his fingers to her flesh, squeezing her, grinding to her, one hand traveled up on her back and pulled her closer. Letting go of his tight control he trapped her against a wall and nibbled on her lower lip. Then he moved to her ear and took one of her hands to feel the bulge in his pants over the fabric.

He talked directly to her ear, "I want you, Felicity. I want your screams, I want your taste in my mouth." She gasped and he moved against her hand between them, pushing harder, "And if you think I don't want your mouth around me, you're dead wrong. Because I'm craving it." He said dragging his teeth down her neck.

Her eyes closed in a haze, heat pooled between her legs, "Stop.. hormones everywhere.. oh god.."

He laughed, that was pure Felicity.

o0o

They saw each other at the thanksgiving, Felicity got sick, then Oliver got sick while taking are of her and they stayed in bed for the entire holiday watching movies and blowing off their nose. Felicity went to Wharton for the new year party, they got way too drunk, Thea and Tommy carried them to the dorms.

One saturday morning in March, Felicity woke up and decided that she wanted new glasses and blonde hair. Life went on, they became accustomed to not having each other around. Felicity learned not to cry, Oliver stopped calling her in the middle of the night, drunk.

It was May 14 and Felicity was pissed off.

His birthday was May 16, Felicity was preparing for her finals and she had no idea how to tell him she wasn't going to be there for his birthday.

Her phone rang and she opened it without a second thought, "Hey."

"Hey, Felicity. Look I'm about to get into class, what time do you want your flight to be?"

"Uhm, Oliver.. I'm not gonna make it."

"What?"

"I have an exam on May 16 and 17. I've already sent your present, it should be there in two days."

"It's okay, I can postpone it, when will your exams end?"

"I don't know. There's this asshole who hacked in and stole the answers so we're stuck here."

"Oh, alright. I'll call you in a few hours?"

"I'll be in the lab by that, I'm sorry."

"Okay, take care."

"You too."

Felicity shut the phone, lower lip sagged down. She was so pissed off she opened her laptop and started to look for the asshole. She found him an hour and put his computer down, sent the ID to dean and left for the lab.

She got out of the lab and checked her phone, seeing 13 missed calls from Tommy. She called instantly.

"What happened?"

"Oliver's drunk."

"What?"

"He is drunk his ass off, I'm afraid he's gonna get into coma."

"Why didn't you cut him off?" She screeched.

"I don't know where he is, I can't track his phone, you can. Do it!"

"Shit, I'm still at the campus, wait a second. Don't hang up the phone."

"Alright I'm waiting."

Felicity ran to the library and opened a computer that had her back to the wall. She quickly hacked into the satellite of Oliver's phone company and ran the search for his phone. She was still out of breath when she located him.

"Found him! He's in a place called Daydreams. I'm looking up wh-"

"Felicity, don't! Don't loo-"

"Strip club? Type.. Nude! Merlyn, send me the damn jet, I'm coming over."

"Felicity, let's be-"

"Tommy!"

"Alright, you just go to the airport, isn't there a small airport around the campus?"

"I'm five minutes away from there by car, shut the phone and set that jet up, now!" She yelled and ended the call.

She went back to her dorm, getting a quick shower and shoving her textbooks to her backpack. She would be alright, disturbed but alright, if it was lingerie. Or at least topless. But he was in a nude one, so now he was in trouble. Felicity muttered under her breath as she got into a cab and went towards the airport.

She quickly detected the Queen jet when it landed and she was by the pilot as soon as he got out.

Pilot, probably warned by Tommy, nodded as she climbed the stairs furiously and went over to the hostess area to get a bottle of wine.

She spent her hour furiously drinking and studying, checking her phone sporadically. Finally they landed and she stomped down the stairs moving to the black car waiting near to the plane.

She nodded to the bald, green-eyed man and he asked, "Miss Smoak?"

"Yes," She answered, smiling. He opened the door for her and she got inside car, it was warm and she felt better and less angry in a second.

That was the problem with her, no matter how pissed off she was, she could never be rude to the people who didn't deserve it. She was best friends with the workers in the Queen mansion for example. She had learned how to drive from Sammy, how to cook from Raisa. Every chauffeur, every cook, every maid loved Felicity, probably because she never felt rich or acted like it.

"How are you today, Miss Smoak?"

"Felicity, please. I am pissed off at Oliver and I'm marching over there to show it to him. Unfortunately, he won't remember it because he is drunk his ass off."

"Then we should get there quickly, before he falls asleep."

"Huh, thanks. What's your name?"

"David."

25 minutes later, Felicity knew everything about David, his little girl, his newly recovering wife because of cancer. They had to remove her uterus but the couple had agreed that if they wanted a sibling for little Marissa they would adopt, they had a patisserie and his wife was the definition of old fashion beauty. She had a face of an angel, soft looking lovely woman. Felicity saw the picture too.

When they parked in front of the dorm building, she shoved her things into her bag and David opened the door for her, after she got out she hugged him and told him to send her well wishes and congratulate her braveness against cancer and kiss little Marissa for her.

_Damn, now I'm emotional,_ she thought. How the hell was she going to be pissed at Oliver after all this feelings, she had no idea. She went straight for his room and threw the door open.

Oliver was laughing, his body was shining thanks to strippers. He looked up to her and kept laughing, "Who is that?" He asked turning to Tommy.

Now that her hair was blonde, he couldn't recognize her, he was that drunk and Felicity was that pissed off in the moment. Tommy flinched visibly at the question. He knelt besides Oliver.

"That's Felicity."

"Yeah, okay. I remember the ginger Felicity in the club, and there's my Felicity but this woman is none of them."

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut at the damage and wished Thea was there to calm Felicity and sober Oliver.

Felicity shut the door and went straight to the bathroom, rich people had bathrooms in their special lux dorm it appeared and she took a bucket filling it with ice cold water and slamming it to Oliver's face.

Tommy jumped away, avoiding the water and Oliver looked up, "Felicity? Blonde.. Felicity?"

Oliver stood up and stumbled towards the coffee machine, Felicity and Tommy were used to it. Tommy would go down if he drank that much but Oliver always had a better tolerance. He was one of those people who could sober up easily and actually think to do it for themselves. It came with years of practice and wild parties Felicity refused to participate. She once did and had to take care of Oliver, after dragging his ass down the stairs from some unknown girls bed she had stopped.

Oliver took his coffee and added cold water to cool it down. He drank the whole thing all at once and filled the cup with one more, reaching the fridge for powerade. He started to mix his own hangover cure but Felicity sat him down and took over the process.

"What the hell happened, Oliver?"

"I went to the stripper club and-"

"Why did you go there?" She talked over her shoulder. Pouring the blue liquid into a jar and looking for the other ingredients.

"I was sad."

"When you're sad, you go to a pub, drink alone, brood, sulk in the corners, sit and stare. You don't go to the strip clubs, what happened?" She added a pinch of salt into the jar and put the other cup of coffee inside. She squeezed the half of a lemon, dropped a few cinnamon sticks and poured some vinegar.

She placed the lid on and shook it, she went over to Oliver and knelt in front of him, "What the hell happened Oliver?"

He reached for the jar but she pulled it to herself, "Tommy, out."

Tommy left without a word and shut the door after himself.

"I just went to a strip club and got drunk Felicity, it happened before."

"You never went alone, Oliver. No one goes to strip clubs alone, not when they're in a relationship."

"Felicity, cut it." He took the jar from her and opened the lid, downing the half in one swift motion.

Felicity watched him with a frown on her face, expression dead serious. She huffed out and stood up, going over to her bags. If he wanted to cut it short, it was fine by her. She had finals to study and a future to get ready, she wasn't in this relationship to find him drunk in strip clubs.

She left the room and found Tommy leaned to the wall next to the door.

"I was expecting shouting."

Felicity raised her brow to him, "You know you never did it, so-"

"So what? He gets to have sex because we don't?" She asked, questioning the stupidity of that sentence.

"No, I didn't mean that. I'm just saying, don't you have like an agreement or something?"

"What is he a succubus? He can survive without sex. And he is the one insisting to wait, it's not like I'm running away from him. I had to fight to give him a-"

"I don't need to know that."

"Apparently you do, if Thea was here you both would be dead."

"I know, I'm sorry. She would cut off my head if she heard me." It was a way of asking _"please don't tell to her"_ Felicity just nodded.

"So you're leaving now?"

"I'm not sure."

"Why?"

"I don't like leaving things like this but my finals are in two days and here I am dealing with a.." She struggled to find adjectives but failed, sighing she just said, "Oliver."

Tommy smiled, "Why did you think it was a good idea to date Oliver?"

"I didn't. He kissed me, that's the only new thing in our relationship."

"But he is monogamous."

"He is-"

"Supposed to? How? If you claim you're not dating, why would he stay monogamous? You never dated anyone all those years because of him, even though you weren't together."

"He could keep boys away from me in Starling, in MIT he would go crazy. He knows me, he knows I'll never cheat."

"So, that means you're dating, you're only loyal if you're in a relationship."

Felicity looked at him, "Then you're dating Thea."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on Merlyn, you haven't slept with anyone since senior year, you were very secretive about your sex life before that. No, actually, you were secretive about it when Thea was around. And tell me how many guys you put down because they approached her?"

"Felicity," He growled.

"I clearly remember 11 of them, come on, give me the final count."

"Since she was seven, starting with George Oswald," he sighed, "41."

"Oh my god!"

"What? They stopped trying after I went back to Starling 6 times."

"You literally went back home because of this?"

"Stop analyzing my actions, you're revealing my intentions and no one is ready for that."

"Thea is."

Tommy turned to her sharply and Felicity shook her head, "You thought she wasn't aware? She's smarter than you and Oliver and sometimes even me. Tommy, she would kill any girl that would try to be with you. She had the talk with me."

"The talk?"

"Imagine 8 years old Thea, arms crossed, 'I have no problem with anything you do, but if you dare to be with Tommy, I will put you down.' She literally raised a brow to me and said, 'Tommy is mine.'"

Tommy chuckled shaking his head, his talks with the guys that approached her usually went like that although he was a bit more detailed in the 'I will put you down' department.

Door opened and Oliver looked around, he gripped Felicity's arm and pulled her inside.

"I'm sorry."

Felicity kept staring at him, keeping silent.

"Felicity?" He shook her with his grip around her arms, "I'm really sorry. Just say something."

She slowly took a step towards him, her voice clear from emotion, almost soft, "You don't get to go to strip clubs and drink to a point where Tommy is so concerned he has no choice but calling me for locating you. You don't get to tell me when to shut up, and you don't get to apologize and do it over again. If you ever dare to tell me to cut it, you'll never hear me talk ever again, Oliver." She moved out of his grip easily and left.

o0o

Oliver passed his birthday that year, he was still shaken after a month. He would shudder at the memory of her words, he was never good with ultimatums, everyone knew it, specially Felicity. But she was right in all her points, as always, and she was maybe the only person he was truly afraid. He had the ability to truly hurt him, break him, tore him apart. She also had the worst stubbornness. It wasn't very often she showed that side of her because she was usually able make people understand her side and compromise. But god forbid, if Oliver dared to go toe to toe with her, she would put him down. Harder than Thea or Tommy. She would wreck him, the only reason she still hadn't was that she loved him for the man he was, because she believed he could grow up, because he was just irrational and emotional at the moment and she understood that.

But the last incident was another kind of being a jerk. He was never a jerk towards her, he wouldn't dare and he would loathe himself if he ever was because Felicity was his heart, saddening her intentionally would kill him. And this came very close to that. He had disrespected her, even though she didn't march in screaming and acting like a crazy girlfriend. She had asked why, she had tried to learn his reasoning because that's what Felicity always had done. She always tried to understand before judging, accusing and damaging.

But he had acted like an abusive husband to her gentle efforts, she had even given him time for him to realize it, to take it back before she had left the room. But when she came back, she was done with all of it. She was done with waiting for him to be the man she knew. The only thing she had done was to let him know the consequences of his actions and it was scary as fuck. If he was going to be a different man, if he was going to treat her like that, everything would be over. 13 years would be a history for her. Because Felicity Smoak was not a woman to make excuses, she wouldn't have toxic relationships and low self-esteem. She would happily die for Oliver but she would never let him kill her. That's what Oliver loved about her.

o0o

Good and bad, they were very distinct things for people. Good situations and bad situations were possible, however neutral situations weren't forgotten. Only there was another type, a type no one acknowledge until living it first hand. This situation showed its face only to the ones who lived through it. It was still a distinct good and bad for others, it was frustrating, because it refused to be acknowledged by the others as the way it truly was.

That's what sophomore year college taught Felicity and Oliver. It was one of those rare times where Oliver and Felicity had an opening, one of those times where everything was out of the way. Tommy and Thea weren't around, they didn't have classes to attend for 3 days, no essays to hand over, no mid-terms to take, no finals to dread.

They were in Philadelphia. They were drunk, way too drunk. Somehow they thought drinking at 3 pm was an acceptable thing to do. They had conversations, that was behind their actions, they would never remember.

_"Your decisions suck." She said suddenly pouting. They got drunk fast, thanks to jello shots._

_"Why? I mean I know but what sucks now?"_

_"Thea and Tommy aren't around, I'm not on my period, everything is out of the way for a nice pizza night including Lord of The Rings marathon that would end with mind blowing sex."_

_"We can arrange that."_

_"Huh.."_

4 hours later they were getting out of the jet, stumbling to be exact and Oliver was tugging her to the car that was waiting for them. It wasn't David who was driving, he would stop them if he was, he wouldn't let them do mistakes like these.

He would let them wake up in a hotel room, with killer hangover and a sickening cliché. Felicity woke up in Oliver's arms, it wasn't different than what they were used to. Until she opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around.

"Oliver!"

"What?" He got up hastily, checking her for injuries.

"Where are we?"

Oliver couldn't look around, his eyes were glued to a shine.

"Felicity.."

Felicity looked at him and followed his gaze, it landed on her finger.

"We didn't, did we?"

"I don't know."

Oliver looked at her, "You think we did that too?"

Felicity moved around a bit, "I'm sore."

Oliver looked like his puppy died and Felicity burst out laughing.

"So much for let's wait till we get married, it's gonna be so special it's gonna rain rainbow colored snowflakes." She kept laughing but Oliver wasn't amused at all.

"Why do you find this funny?"

"Because it is. This is faith at its best."

She looked around for her glasses, after she found them she searched for her phone, leaving the bed with the sheet she wrapped herself. Getting the wi-fi from the hotel she looked up the tabloids and went over to Oliver to show the pictures to him, "Look, I have a veil!"

Oliver rolled out of the bed silently and wore his underwear.

Felicity threw the phone to the bed and went over to him, "Hey, why are reacting this much? It's fine Oliver."

"It's not fine Felicity, it was supposed to be special."

"And it was! Until you decided that having sex with me wasn't special enough."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Do I? You keep pushing me away, putting limits to my intimacy. All you did was to postpone this Oliver, you were so worked up on getting your way you didn't even see how hurt I was. And after I agree to marry you, intoxicated or not, just to be with you, you act like this was the worst possible scenario."

"Because it is!"

Felicity huffed out a breath and smiled, shaking her head, "You might want to consider it again." She turned and started to fish her clothes from the mess they left in the room. He gripped her arm and turned her to face him when she started to put them on.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"You're leaving? How do you think you'll go home without the jet?"

"I'm not going home."

"Wait, are you.. you're ending this?"

She looked right through his eyes calmly and his grip tightened on her arm, "No. Felicity.. We.. We have to talk about this. You can't break up with me." He stuttered.

"I can't leave you?"

"You're my everything and the last time I checked I was that for you. You can't end this because we had a drunken mistake."

"You're aware you're not helping your case with those words right?"

"Felicity, I love you and you love me. We can get over this."

"I have nothing to get over, Oliver. You're the one who thinks this is the worst possible scenario." She spat, throwing his statements and slamming it to his face.

She put on her shoes and tied her shoelaces. She was moving for the door but he stopped her as her hand went to the handle, "We're married."

"I'll file for divorce," she said easily.

But it was just words, like his were. Her hand was frozen over the handle and she couldn't get herself to leave, his hand on her arm burned her. His gaze bore into hers, years and years of trust, 13 years of love, pure unadulterated love they shared was the thing they saw.

"Don't," he said slowly, his voice raspy. The thought of her leaving permanently, because she didn't want him was so much more than he could bear. It was unthinkable. He actually had no idea how he would carry on, literally. He didn't know how he could eat, sleep or just breath when she didn't want him. It was such an absurd idea, but now that it was possible, Oliver felt fear shake him to his core. It was worse than death because it was unknown, it was just, emptiness.

She swallowed loudly, she wished she had the ability to leave but she didn't, her mind was maybe too stubborn, but her limbs knew the truth and they weren't self-destructive like her brain was.

"I'm not." She mumbled, shrugging like it was just another day.

He closed his lips on hers, pushing her back against the door with his body. One second he was soft and tender and in the other it was a demanding, almost violent kiss. Felicity only tried to keep up with him because it wasn't the kind of a kiss she could fight for dominance, it was his feelings pouring into her and she could barely swallow. His hands on her waist pulled her flush against him, the room was forgotten, everything was forgotten when he had her.

He let go of everything, he let every thought fly away from his brain, he only did what he wished to do for years. To have her. To feel her, to be one with her, mark her and be the one for her. He was a self-sabotaging prick and Felicity was quick to let him know that, by drawing blood from his lip.

They never remembered it, but they got to watch it. It was elevator sex, Felicity found it before it went online, he wasn't gentle and she was a biter.

Thea and Tommy laughed, they never got a divorce or an annulment but it wasn't until they graduated that she walked down the aisle.

It taught them the one thing that kept them together over the years, with each other everything was special.

It was never easy though.

o0o

It was the life they led, they were selfish, they had to have each other. But they didn't have control over faith.

Felicity was the head of I.T. department, Robert had seen it before he died and he had had a good chuckle fest on it. Oliver was the CEO, as good as his father but with her help. They had incredible breakthroughs in the I.T. department, as well as Applied Sciences.

Work was easy, their relationship was easy and every moment felt good, it never became dull, it never became boring, it never felt like a habit. But it ended early, because faith liked playing with them, screwing their plans, giving them the best and snatching it away way too quickly.

They fought a lot, they made up a lot, they loved each other more. It was a struggle from top to bottom, filled with intensity but the lightness too. It was overwhelming to be with one another but it was the only way they knew and it was the easiest thing.

Yes, the faith was cruel. It was like a teacher, not an unforgiving one. It always punished them for being ungrateful. It always made them miss what they thought was annoying, it always taught it the hard way but they insisted on not learning.

It cost Felicity a trauma for Oliver to appreciate her constant nagging and rambling and it cost him 2 months in coma for her to appreciate his unending public teasing. But those were only lunch for them, they suffered great losses over the years because life wanted a great journey.

Their dog ended up being their only baby, and life taught them, they only had each other when Tommy and Thea left them in a car crash.

And life shook its finger to them, and pitied them when it let them die together. Too young, too soon but good enough. It let them breathe each others scent into numbness as blood left their veins slowly, mixing into each other on the dusty floor and it smiled over them for once, because any other way would be a waste of their story.

Because life knew them enough, he knew, they were just two people who loved each other, kept loving each other and he nodded along for once, he left them alone for once and it was good enough for them.

Because life taught them to appreciate the hard way, but it taught them good, good enough to smile for an end.

* * *

Please comment because I think I failed miserably but I couldn't write it any other way, I just, god what have I done..


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